UPDATED: Crash of Ukrainian airliner work of Iran/Islamic terrorists?

New just breaking... Ukraianian International Airlines flight PS752 crashed just after takeoff from Tehran's international airport this morning, killing all 176 passengers and crew. Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Vadym Prystaiko said 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians were on board. The Ukrainian nationals included two passengers and the nine crew. There were also ten Swedish, four Afghan, three German and three British nationals, he said.

Some reports say the aircraft -- a Boeing 737-800 (not the same type as the Max8) -- was on fire when it crashed. That could indicate a mid-air explosion. May Walt be forgiven for wondering if this tragedy is in any way connected with the retaliation promised by the Iranian government for the killing of Gen. Qassem Suleimani by a US drone strike, late last week. Stay tuned.

UPDATE ADDED at 1230: Latest reports are that the Iranian government will not hand over the "black boxes" (=flight data recorders) from the crashed plane to either Boeing or America. Iran's semi-official news agency quoted the head of Iran's civil aviation organization as saying it was not clear which country Iran would send the black boxes to for analysis, but it would not give them to Boeing, which is based in the United States, a country with which Iran has no diplomatic relations. What does that tell you?

NATO troops start pulling out of Iraq; Americans just "moving"

There are further developments in the drama of Western meddling in the Middle East. As reported here, the Iraqi parliament voted on Sunday to oust US forces from their shithole country. The resolution said "all foreign forces", which means they would like NATO forces to follow the Americans towards the "EXIT" sign, and not slam the door on the way out. Yesterday they were signs that a number of America's "allies" [Fair weather friends? Ed.] may actually be ahead of the US military in getting out of Dodge.

Canada's chief of the defence staff, Gen. Jonathan Vance, announced that Canuckistan's military is temporarily "relocating" some soldiers from Iraq to Kuwait. The move, posted to Twitter this morning, follows the lead of Germany and several other allies. Western troops in Iraq have been on high alert since the weekend killing, by an American drone, of Iranian Gen. Qassem Suleimani, the mastermind behind Islamic terrorist activities in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and the rest of the sandpit.

Following Gen. Vance's announcement, Harjit Singh Sajjan, Canada's defence minister and self-proclaimed hero of Aghanistan, insisted that the "relocation" of Canuck forces was just a minor matter, and that the NATO military mission in the Middle East would stay the course. Any confusion about this, he said, was triggered by a leaked letter which suggested Washington was prepared to withdraw its troops from Iraq. Media reports about the letter from a senior USMC brigadier general said the pullout would happen over the next few days "in deference to the sovereignty of the Republic of Iraq", in response to the resolution of the Iraqi parliament mentioned above

But, according to Reuters, US Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, later told a group of reporters that the letter was only a draft, meant only to inform the Iraqi government of "increased US troop movement". Nothing more. No withdrawal is being planned. Said the general, "Poorly worded, implies withdrawal. That's not what's happening." Yeah. Right.

The leaked letter said the repositioning was taking place "to prepare for onward movement" but did not specify where that movement might take place, whether west toward the "EXIT" door {read: Kuwait, where the USA has been furiously enlarging its bases) or eastward, towards, errr, Afghanistan, or northward, towards... wait for it... Iran.

American Secretary of Defense Mark Esper also insisted the US has no plans to pull out of Iraq. "There's been no decision whatsoever to leave Iraq," Mr Esper told Pentagon reporters on Monday, adding there also have been no plans issued to prepare to leave. Stay tuned.

Further reading: "Matt Gaetz: Trump Doctrine 'Best' When U.S. Strikes Terrorists, Bring Troops Home", Breitbart News, 7/1/20. Lede: "Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) told Breitbart News in an exclusive comment Tuesday that the Donald Trump foreign policy doctrine works best when 'we strike the terrorists' and then 'bring the troops home.'" Sounds like Mr Gaetz has been reading WWW.